Five Real Madrid players who could leave in January

Real Madrid are enduring a difficult campaign.

What was supposed to be a season confirming the club’s dominance over European football quickly turned into a bit of a disaster. While results have stabilised of late, a slow start to the campaign may cost Los Blancos in the long run.

The arrival of Kylian Mbappe has brought with it its own challenges and one of the effects of the Frenchman’s signing is that some of Real Madrid’s attacking players are struggling for minutes.

READ MORE: Five players who could join Real Madrid in January

As a result, speculation has linked several star players with a winter exit and while coach Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that he will keep his squad together, there may still be some departures.

Below, FootballTransfers looks at five players who could leave Real Madrid in January…

Jesus Vallejo (Centre-back)

Jesus Vallejo returned from a loan stint at Granada in the summer and was kept around as a squad player following the departures of captain Nacho Fernandez and promising centre-back Rafa Marin.

However, Vallejo has fallen completely out of favour and despite Real Madrid’s defensive injury crisis, he barely gets on the pitch. The centre-back has slipped below youngster Raul Asencio in the pecking order and clearly has no future at the Bernabeu.

A January exit, perhaps to a LaLiga rival, is likely.

READ MORE: Latest Real Madrid transfer news

Dani Ceballos (Central midfielder)

Dani Ceballos was something of a fan favourite during his loan stint at Arsenal, so he returned to Real Madrid with ambitious goals. In hindsight, however, it was a mistake to stay at the club.

The midfielder even extended his contract in the summer of 2023 despite not playing and his fortunes haven’t massively improved despite getting some rare minutes recently, in which he actually performed quite well.

Ceballos will have suitors in January and unless he is content with primarily sitting on the bench, he should seek to get out.

Brahim Diaz (Winger)

Brahim Diaz was struggling to nail down a starting spot even before Mbappe’s arrival and things have only become more difficult for him since. The former AC Milan loanee is barely seeing minutes despite being so eminently talented.

When he does get the chance to shine – primarily on international duty with Morocco – Diaz regularly proves what a brilliant player he is, but it seems that he will never manage to establish himself at Real Madrid.

He is known to have admirers in LaLiga, Serie A and beyond and could look to jump ship in January.

Arda Guler (Attacking midfielder)

Arda Guler is always in the headlines and it is always for the same reason. The Turkish wonderkid doesn’t get regular minutes under Ancelotti and is perennially linked with a loan move away.

Despite this, Ancelotti has been insistent that Guler is going nowhere and that he fully enjoys his trust, citing his youth as the only reason why he doesn’t play more often.

When he has played, however, Guler has repeatedly shown that he can go toe-to-toe with the best of them, so he won’t be happy about this current situation and may request a temporary January exit.

Endrick (Striker)

A player in exactly the same boat as Guler, Brazilian wonderkid Endrick spends more time on the bench than on the pitch. Here, too, Ancelotti has pointed to his inexperience as the key reason behind his lack of minutes.

Real Madrid invested a massive amount of money in the teenager, so they can ill-afford to stunt his development, hence exit rumours have proliferated.

Ancelotti has played loan suggestions down when speaking to the media, but it could be a beneficial solution for both parties given that Real Madrid are not necessarily short on attacking options.